Radford (formerly Lovely Mount, Central City, English Ferry and Ingle’s Ferry) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of 2020, the population was 16,070 by the United States Census Bureau. For statistical purposes, the Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Radford with adjacent to Montgomery County.

Radford is included in the Blacksburg–Christiansburg metropolitan area.

Radford is the house of Radford University. The Radford Arsenal is manageable in Pulaski and Montgomery counties. Radford City has four schools: McHarg Elementary, Belle Heth Elementary, Dalton Intermediate, and Radford High School.

Radford was named for Dr. John B. Radford. Dr. Radford’s home Arnheim was listed upon the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. Radford was originally a little village of people that gathered close the New River, which was a major charisma to travelers for open water and food even though traveling west. The town had a major population growth in 1854 following the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad came through. A large depot was placed at Lovely Mount because of its strategic positioning in the midst of the eastern and western parts of the state. The actual station was not upon Lovely Mountain, located on the southwestern side of town, but Lovely Mount was a known mountain and naming the station this would encourage people to remember the location of the depot. The Railroad Depot caused the population of Radford to boom. It moreover caused a major growth in the amount of trade and business in the area. Radford became a railroad town. The original name for Radford was Lovely Mount because of the location of the depot; the proclaim was misused in 1891 to Radford. Radford, or at least the train station area, was called Central Depot because of its central location halfway surrounded by Lynchburg and Bristol, Virginia on the indigenous railroad, the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad (later the Norfolk and Western Railway).